Our Roots

Who We Are & How We Started, By Paul W. Barada

I had been working as the Executive Director of the Rush County Chamber of Commerce in the fall of 1979. At the time we were working very hard to convince Copeland Corporation, based in Sidney, Ohio, to locate a new remanufacturing plant in our town. Happily, they chose Rushville.

Not long after the Copeland announcement, I was asked to meet with their vice presidents of human resources and manufacturing. They wanted me to help them identify and hire 250 good people for their new facility. Since I lived in Rushville, they believed I could help them make solid hiring decisions. I spent about two weeks putting together a list of questions about job performance, to be asked of references, supplied by the candidates for employment with Copeland. Not long after that, I did my first “reference report.” It was an in-depth evaluation of a candidate’s past job performance, based on extensive telephone interviews with each candidate’s references. Copeland was so pleased with the result they offered me a full-time consulting contract!

As I continued to do reference reports on candidates for employment with Copeland, an increasing number of references said no one had ever asked them so many questions before or had been nearly as thorough. Several asked if I provided reference reports for other companies! The proverbial light-bulb went on, and I realized that few, if any other companies, were providing a similar service in the marketplace. That flash of insight was the beginning of Barada Associates.

Along with two partners, Dick Fleming and Bob Piers, both of whom were in the executive search business, we formed a corporation and officially went into business in the fall of 1979.

To this day we live by the values of accuracy, consistency, and efficiency – all built around the fundamental concept of personalized customer service, unmatched in the pre-employment screening industry. The fact that we’re celebrating more than 30 years in business is testimony to our continuing commitment to those same values and beliefs. As Barada Associates has grown over the years, and as a new generation of leadership has emerged, we continue to strengthen our core values.

Out of necessity, the scope of our business has evolved and expanded over the years, and we now offer a full range of pre-employment screening services, not just reference checking. While our technology is cutting edge, we are very proud of the fact that when you call Barada, a “real person” will still answer the telephone – just as I did more than 30 years ago.